Journey's End

Product Description

Hailed by George Bernard Shaw as 'useful [corrective] to the romantic conception of war' R.C. Sherriff's Journey's End" is an unflinching vision of life in the trenches towards the end of the First World War published in " Penguin Classics". Set in the First World War " Journey's End" concerns a group of British officers on the front line & opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh a new eighteen-year-old officer fresh out of English public school joins the besieged company of his friend & cricketing hero Stanhope & finds him dramatically changed. Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of " Journey's End" in 1928; the play was an instant stage success & remains a remarkable anti-war classic. R.C. Sherriff (1896-1975) joined the army shortly after the outbreak of the First World War serving as a captain in the East Surrey regiment. After the war an interest in amateur theatricals led him to try his hand at writing. Following rejection by many theatre managements " Journey's End" was given a single performance by the Incorporated Stage Society in which Lawrence Olivier took the lead role. The play's enormous success enabled Sherriff to become a full-time writer with plays such as " Badger's Green" (1930) " St Helena" (1935) & " The Long Sunset" (1955); though he is also remembered as a screenplay writer for films such as " The Invisible Man" (1933) " Goodbye Mr Chips" (1933) & " The Dam Busters" (1955). If you enjoyed " Journey's End" you might like Robert Graves' " Goodbye to All That" available in " Penguin Modern Classics". " Its unrelenting tension & its regard for human decency in a vast world of human waste are impressive & even now moving". (Clive Barnes)."